There is no required training to use the Cricut Maker or the electric cutters (Silver Bullet or Old Cricut).
Vinyl Cutter Guide
This guide is based around the Cricut Maker that, as of this writing, is on the desk with the embroidery machine in the Fish Bowl. The other Vinyl Cutters are on the shelf next to the desk. This may not be a complete guide and if you still don’t feel 100% confident using these machines after reading this guide you should not be afraid to ask for help #help-textiles-arts-and-crafts on Slack.
Vinyl cutter area and surrounding resources
Accepted Materials
Vinyl, even the thicker automotive vinyl will work though you may need to run your cut twice
Paper
Thin Cloth
Thin rubber and silicone (great for custom gaskets)
Operation
Cut your material down to size and place your material on one of the sticky cutting mats which can be found on the bottom shelf next to the computer desk.
If it’s your first time using the material, you may want to do some research before cutting
Open the Cricut maker, and turn on the vinyl cutter with the power button on top
You have to use Cricut Design Space to set up what you want to cut. Design Space has some graphics and fonts, but you can also import vector graphics which you may find easier.
You’ll likely need to group some graphics together, shift click some features and right click, hover over attach, and then choose the appropriate attachment style. Each one works a little differently so just experiment
Click the make button in the top right corner of Design Studio, you should see a preview of your design on the smallest mat that it can fit on
Place your design on the virtual mat to determine where it will be cut, and click make in the bottom right when complete
Note that there is a 1/2″ border where the knife cannot cut, and the software will make sure that your design fits within a 11.5″ x 23.5″ rectangle. If your design is less than 11.5″ x 11.5″ you can alternatively use the less cumbersome 12″ mats pictured here, and the software will assume you are doing so.
You’ll be prompted to select a material and then push some buttons. The up/down arrow button loads and unloads the mat, and the Cricut logo button starts the cut
Notice in the last picture that the edges of the mat slide under two tabs on their way to the grey wheels of the y-axis
While cutting, the machine could push almost the entire mat behind the machine itself so make sure to clear sufficient space out from behind the machine before pressing the Cricut button to start cutting
When you’re done cutting, remember to replace the clear film atop the mats to preserve the ‘stickiness’
You’ll likely need to ‘weed’ your design, you can use tweezers in the textiles tool drawers found along the wall just past the sewing machine
Transfer tape can be found in the top drawer of the computer desk and can help you remove your finished design and paste it onto the surface you want to decorate
Troubleshooting
Symptom
Cause
Solution
Accessories
The sticky cutting mats are needed for loading materials into the machine to be cut. Remove the plastic cover before placing your material on the mat. Please replace the plastic cover when finished to help the mat stay sticky.
The Cricut EasyPress2 is used to heat transfer materials onto items.
